Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell’s Three-Point Stance is here with a look back at some preseason predictions that look ridiculous in hindsight, thoughts on recent coaching changes and an explanation of why an eight-team playoff this year would stink.
MORE TAKE TWO: Is James Franklin open to considering other jobs?
1. HINDSIGHT IS 20/20
We all remember some of these popular predictions before the season. A lot of them look downright ridiculous now.
Nebraska will win the Big Ten West – Sorry to pick on Nebraska here, but this one stood out to me as the most ridiculous and egregious given that the Huskers were 4-8 last year. This is what happens when you watch Scott Frost pull off a miracle at UCF, you expect it again. Nebraska finished the season 5-7 overall and still appear to be a few years away from competing for the Big Ten West title.
Adrian Martinez will be a Heisman candidate – Martinez was as high as fifth on some preseason projections when it comes to the Heisman behind the likes of Trevor Lawrence, Tua Tagovaiola, Jalen Hurts and others. Why? More Frost hype and a solid freshman season where he got better and better and threw for 17 touchdown and eight picks with little talent around him. However, he took a major step back this year as we can see.
Michigan will break through and best Ohio State in the Big Ten East – OK, let’s stop picking on Nebraska and pick on Michigan. This was the year, right? Ohio State had a new coach and a new quarterback and Jim Harbaugh and his new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis were going to light it up. Nope. A 9-3 record is nice and all but not when Ohio State is perfect and throttles you and Penn State is 10-2 and also beats you.
Shea Patterson will be good – The game against Ohio State is Shea Patterson in a nutshell. He can look great as he did in the first half or he can look completely lost as he did in the second half. He was a sleeper pick for some in the Heisman. Ouch.
Ed Orgeron will finish third in the SEC West – LSU was picked by most to finish second to Alabama in the SEC West but there were a few out there who had Texas A&M as the sleeper to give the Tide the biggest problem. And if that happened, Orgeron was supposed to be on the hot seat So much for that.
Florida State will be back – Maybe some people meant the Seminoles would be back in like five years and not this season. But preseason polls had the ‘Noles third in the Atlantic and certainly not behind Wake Forest and Louisville. Florida State is not back and might not be for awhile depending on the next hire.
Clay Helton will be fired – As of this writing Helton hasn’t been fired which is amazing because 8-4 at USC coming off a 5-7 season is awful. And recruiting is horrible. By the time you read this, this prediction could be spot-on.
Syracuse will push Clemson in the ACC – The Orange were a preseason AP Top 25 team. They finished 5-7 overall and 2-6 in conference and gave up 63 points to a 3-9 Maryland team. Dino Babers was a hot coaching name for a minute.
Trevor Lawrence is a shoe-in for the Heisman – This was all me and many others but it appears that Sunshine won’t even get to New York. His stat line of 2,870 yards and 30 touchdowns against eight picks isn’t bad, but this year it’s not enough. Now he’ll just have to win another national title. Shucks.
Miami will win the ACC Coastal – Miami is horrible. The Hurricanes finished 6-6 and lost to Georgia Tech, FIU and Duke. They are far from a Coastal contender and Manny Diaz will be on notice as early as next season.
Texas will win the Big 12 – This was a popular one as Sam Ehlinger was in charge and Tom Herman was ready to take his team to the next step. Baylor was a much tougher test in the league, and Oklahoma will likely win the conference yet again. And now Herman is on the hot seat.
Stanford and Washington will push Oregon – Stanford was just awful this year and Washington has a very disappointing season, enough so that Chris Petersen stepped down. Oregon is the class of the Pac-12 North, without a doubt.
2. AS THE COACHING CAROUSEL TURNS
Some coaching change thoughts…
It was time for Steve Adazzio to go at Boston College. The offense was beyond predictable and the defense seemed to get worse every year. Another 6-6 record and another awful bowl game isn’t what they want at Boston College. Oh, to bring back the Tom O’Brien days that the fans always complained about where eight or nine wins were a lock. Look for someone from the Urban Meyer coaching tree to land at BC.
I don’t think Ole Miss should have moved on from Matt Luke or that Missouri should have moved on from Barry Odom. The results weren’t great but more time is needed at both programs to compete in the SEC. We’ll see if they upgrade with their replacements.
What is with the Florida State search? I can’t remember a search this quiet in a long time and Florida State better hit a home run with this hire or the fan base will go crazy. Willie Taggart was a disaster and a bad hire could have the Seminoles stumbling towards the land of the Miami Hurricanes really fast.
Lane Kiffin needs to land one of these Power Five jobs just because it would be really fun. Arkansas, maybe?
If USC doesn’t fire Clay Helton by the time you read this they have given up on football.
Greg Schiano will have as much success back at his old stomping grounds as Randy Edsall has had at UConn. Sorry to be a bummer, but it’s true.
Jim Harbaugh would be on the hot seat at any other major program, right? Wrong. While everyone likes to point out his failures he’s 47-17 and 32-12 in conference. That’s pretty good.
3. AN EIGHT-TEAM PLAYOFF WOULD BE TERRIBLE THIS SEASON
I have always been in favor of an eight-team playoff in college football and have written about it for years. That's great in theory, but an eight-team playoff would be terrible this season. No one wants to see Memphis get throttled by Ohio State or LSU. We’re already seeing Baylor and Oklahoma for the second time, so one of them should be out. Utah? Meh. Give me LSU vs. Oklahoma (if the Sooners beat Baylor) and Ohio State vs. Clemson and I’m a happy camper. Next year I’ll complain more about expanding the field to eight.
